Yesterday at ye' old local antique mall, I found a box of Kodachrome Type A film, completely unopened with an expiration date of 1942! Literally, the box is still sealed shut. It's 828 film designed for the Kodak Bantam.

So, how rare a find is this? Is any one interested in it? Since it's 828 I assume you could roll it into a 35mm cartridge. Then again, I doubt if shooting and processing (if Dwayne's would even do it) would be worth it. I don't know what to do with it, but ideas would be appreciated it.

Can't wait to hear your responses.

P.S. Also I got an old Agfa tin, with no film, but it's a cool old canister. I believe it's 35mm, but for bulk loading. It too expired in 1942, and on the tin has a warning about flammability, as it's a nitrate film! It's Ultra-Speed Panchromatic film. And by ultra-speed they mean 64 I think. There's some hand written numbers on it, one for a Weston number of 100 and then 64, which doesn't actually add up, as I understand it. Whatever, it's a neat old piece of history. ;)

rthomas

02-12-2010, 12:27 PM

Nice find! Not sure how rare it is. I have a box of 4x5 Kodachrome sheet film with a 1949 expiration date, which I paid $5 for when a local camera store closed at the end of 2008. Even if there was a possibility of using a seventy-year-old film and getting something, I don't believe your film could be processed, as it's not even the same process as the current K-14 Kodachrome process.

AgX

02-12-2010, 12:31 PM

The first Kodachrome films had been processed together with the second generation fims in the second generation process.
I expect the wrong-processing in the 4th process of today the lesser problem.

WetMogwai

02-12-2010, 12:32 PM

I thought my double 8mm roll of Kodachrome II that expired in November 1969 was a nice find. I'd say those '40s rolls are more interesting. I have no plan to shoot mine. I don't even plan on opening the box. You mention the flammability of nitrate film. Mine says safety film. Does that mean non-flammable, non-nitrate film?

AgX

02-12-2010, 12:33 PM

Safety-Film means Non-Nitrate film.

(and by this: lesser flamable...)

holmburgers

02-12-2010, 12:41 PM

Really?! I always wondered what safety-film meant. That makes sense I guess. You know, the bikes we take for common today were once known as safety bikes, compared to the giant front wheeled 'penny-farthings' of the day.

Very cool, yeah I suspect shooting the film would be blasphemous, and pointless. Best to take a picture of it and put it on flickr for all to see.

cheers!

Pupfish

02-12-2010, 06:39 PM

Background gamma radiation will have fogged it completely (decades ago). It's worth more as ephemera, unopened.

I'm thinking I should keep one of my current boxes of Kodachrome for future displaying of the two boxes, over 60 years apart.

The amazing part is, I found this film at the antique store the same day my processed Kodachrome came back from Dwayne's. Crazy!

The Kodachrome gods are with us....

tjaded

02-15-2010, 01:44 PM

I have a box of un-opened Kodachrome 4x5....so torturous!!

http://www.mattosbornephotography.com/kodachrome/kodachrome%204x5.jpg

Ektagraphic

02-15-2010, 02:17 PM

He may already have this stuff but I bet PKM-25 (Dan Bayer) would love to have hold of the roll and the sheets.

Time Freeze

02-15-2010, 02:56 PM

I have a unpened box of 12 Roebuck (I guess before he met Sears :)) 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 orthochromatic dry plates. The box is marked extra fast but there isn't any speed on the box; no expiration date either.

John

holmburgers

02-15-2010, 04:58 PM

wow, 4x5 kodachrome. cream dream.... hahaha

benjiboy

02-20-2010, 01:54 PM

A Zeiss Contax camera my father gave me when I was a teenager he brought back from WW11 still had some Zeiss Ikon film in it, as far as I remember, the camera is pre war I don't know when Zeiss stopped marketing this film, but certainly in the 1930s.

jcorll

02-24-2010, 10:25 PM

My grandfather just recently gave me his Kodak Retina II from the WWII. He also gave me his camera bag and inside it is a roll of exposed 35mm Ansco color film in its aluminum/steel canister. My guess is that the film is from the 50's or maybe 60's. I am in a photography class and really want to develop it. Anybody know what the developer would be? Would it just be regular C-41?

banana_legs

03-05-2010, 05:09 PM

I have just shot a few half-plate sheets of Kodak Ortho-X from I believe 1938. Luckily it is B&W and works fine. Not quite sure if it is giving the full ASA125 though. I have a second un-opened box from the same batch that I shall store for a few more years....

Evan

Dan Henderson

03-06-2010, 07:23 AM

Really?! I always wondered what safety-film meant. That makes sense I guess. You know, the bikes we take for common today were once known as safety bikes, compared to the giant front wheeled 'penny-farthings' of the day.

cheers!

My understanding is that flammable nitrate-base film was replaced with a more stable acetate base, which was safer, and marketed as "safety film." I have never known just how flammable it was, whether it would spontaneously ignite perhaps after some time to oxidize in air, or if the heat of a movie projector would ignite it, or what.
Dan

railwayman3

03-06-2010, 07:32 AM

My understanding is that flammable nitrate-base film was replaced with a more stable acetate base, which was safer, and marketed as "safety film." I have never known just how flammable it was, whether it would spontaneously ignite perhaps after some time to oxidize in air, or if the heat of a movie projector would ignite it, or what.
Dan

That's correct....the nitrate film is VERY inflammable and needs no oxygen to continue burning once lit. It also decays readily and becomes very unstable. Despite precautions, there were some horrific accidents in the early days of movie theatres.

As regards the Kodachrome found by the OP, there is no chance of it now being processed or even being usable. But it's very collectable, and, if the box, etc., is in good condition, it's really a museum-quality item. :)

bdilgard

03-06-2010, 09:23 AM

In a lot of 620 film that I purchased for the spools I found a box of Ektachrome develop before Apr, 1949. One end is torn off but there is a sealed roll inside. Whether it is the original I don't know. Interesting to me the box says "Processing directions packed in Kodak EKtachrome Processing Kit" and on another side "This film will not be processed by Eastman Kodak Company".